Optical interconnection devices such as optical wave guides have been designed for application of chip-to-chip connections and other electrical components. The advantages of the use of organic polymer films are the large signal band widths and reduced propagation delay, and are amenable to solution spin casting and other techniques. Organic polymers have lower dielectric constants and can have large electro-optic or other nonlinear optical responses that are electronic in origin and therefore have low losses even in high frequency regimes.
Standard lithography processes, together with dry etching, have been used to create experimental integrated optical wave guides. Optical wave guides have been formed in organic films by inducing refractive index changes by ultraviolet light in methods such as: (1) photochemical crosslinking, followed by dissolution of the remaining uncross linked material; (2) “photo-locking” i.e. photochemical attachment, dimerization or polymerization of high refractive index monomer in a transparent polymer matrix film, followed by baking to remove the remaining volatile monomer from non-irradiated areas; (3) pattered argon ion laser irradiation; (4) thermal annealing; and (5) electron beam radiation.
Formation of wave-guide structures in optical organic materials through the photochemical transformation disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,783,136, 4,889,405 and 5,054,872.
Past methods and active media for controlled production and optical access of data include controlled differences in absorption characteristics of molecules at selected regions. This involves the use of at least two intersecting beams of radiation which are matched to selected optical properties of an active media. A bit of data at a selected portion of a region of active media is accessed by directing a first beam having a first electromagnetic radiation characteristics matched to a first optical characteristic of the media at the region to change the condition of the media to a second characteristic. This second characteristic may be of either low or high optical reactivity, depending on the bit valve at programmed portions of the region. The second characteristic is relative to a second radiation characteristic, other than the first radiation characteristic, then directing a second beam matched to the second electromagnetic radiation characteristic to intersect the region at a selected portion containing the bit of data to be accessed to permit optical sensing of the state of the bit.
Optical type elements perform information processing on an input signal light beam through the use of light beams including the signal light beam and an auxiliary light beam for assisting operation. The optical element includes aggregates which are dispersed within the optical element as optical functional aggregates, and which are composed of a single kind or multiple kinds of compounds including a single species of atoms or molecules. Aggregates are dispersed within a transparent polymer film and are responsive to auxiliary light beam to perform a function on an input signal light beam to produce an output signal beam.
This invention is designed to process information using optical materials in a complex network structure which is referred to as the interconnecting network structure, herein referred to as the “optical cell”. Other patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,136,682 and 5,273,863, document the use of polymeric materials to form optical films for interconnecting opto-electric devices and systems. The present invention is based on the total optical process that does not require any such interconnection of opto-electric processing devices and/or systems.